Home defense AR: Kept w/ round in chamber?

Do you guys keep your home defense AR or bullpup rifle with a round loaded in the chamber (and on safe) or empty but with full mag in the mag well?

A friend and I were debating over whether we'd be able to react to fast enough during a home invasion scenario with chambering a round properly under stress. I know that with my STG556, I need to fully pull back the charging handle and let it slam the round into the chamber or else it won't load properly and fire. If chambered incorrectly, I'd have to pull out the mag, then pull back the charging handle again and let it slam the round fully in... else it'll double-feed a round. In which case if a bad guy kicks down my door suddenly during a home invasion, I'd be screeewed!

Do you guys keep your home defense AR or bullpup rifle with a round loaded in the chamber (and on safe) or empty but with full mag in the mag well?

A friend and I were debating over whether we'd be able to react to fast enough during a home invasion scenario with chambering a round properly under stress. I know that with my STG556, I need to fully pull back the charging handle and let it slam the round into the chamber or else it won't load properly and fire. If chambered incorrectly, I'd have to pull out the mag, then pull back the charging handle again and let it slam the round fully in... else it'll double-feed a round. In which case if a bad guy kicks down my door suddenly during a home invasion, I'd be screeewed!

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I have two kids 3 and 5. No waiting accidents in this house. However even with my gun and bullets in 2 different spots I can have it loaded and shot before you get down my hallway.

Someday, I'll be able to keep a loaded weapon within reach at all times. But for now, the kids are only half grown and it only takes ONCE for something to happen. (Of course, it's always loaded when I'm carrying it, and locked up when it's not.) The dogs WILL give enough warning (and slow a person down long enough) for me to push the buttons, hear the beep, and grab what I need. If possible, it's always best to have the weapon loaded, it'll be the seconds that count, not the minutes. But never assume that no one will mess with it or anything when it's unattended.

We don't have any kids yet and the guns are always locked away in the safe when company comes over anyhow. Just wondering even with the safety engaged how safe a cocked and loaded rifle is like my MSAR STG556. Seeing how the safety only blocks the trigger from being actuated and doesn't physically block the hammer from accidentally dropping.

Normally I would have it chambered but with kids, yeah, I'm not taking the risk. I keep 'em 'aircraft' loaded and on safe (and out of sight). Usually it's a FN FAL or an AK so one motion and it's ready for mr. bad guy.

More likely to have a kid mess with it I think than not getting it into action in time. I also have my pistol handy at all times so if I don't have time for the boomstick then at least I have that to soften 'em up a bit.

Since you don't have kids to worry about, I would run it hot but that's just my .02

whether you think it or not, you may very easily forget that the chamber is empty come that time, just one of those wierd things when adrenaline starts flowing! There's a reason it's called a 'dead man's gun'

Never keep round in chamber, too easy to jack one in, and have all that safety. We have a 6.8 stag & 10-22 hanging on hooks above exterior entrances; mostly for bear, wolves, fox, and rabbits. No crime where we call home. If I had to worry about home invasions, I think I'd move to a better place.

I do keep several loaded revolvers on top of china closets, ect; high where they can't been seen but easily accessible if I ever had to shoot somebody inside the house; which has never occurred in all these years.

I raised 3 kids with loaded guns in the house. They were taught from a very early age that guns are not toys, and that they will kill if handled improperly. No kids around now, so guns are all over the place. I do pick them up when the grandkids are in the house, but we still shoot around them, and with them. My daughter could out shoot me at 13, and my oldest boy's first complete sentence was "Gun pow, daddy, gun pow", he was two, and had just shot the 12ga for the humpteenth time. IMHO, an unloaded gun is nothing more than a brick, or a base ball bat.

agreed about educating the kids, that's the way I was raised and never messed with my dad's guns when he wasn't around and I hope my kids learn/have learned the same. My 4 year old got to shoot my 870 with some super light skeet rounds last month, very stoked! I do like keeping a long gun in the house as it is much more effective; I'm in a rural setting so hitting another house is unlikely.

Two things I taught my sons from the start, never touch any of the firearms in the house unless I hand it to them and if anyone asks "No. We don't have firearms". Now they're old enough and trained enough to handle all the firearms we have, and we live by the "No, We don't have firearms" answer.

I have two kids. (10 & 12) Both know how to shoot & safely use a firearm. Both know where & when they can/cannot touch them.

Because of the time spent educating my kids (when they were younger) & taking away the "forbidden fruit" & "curiosity" factor, firearms are really a NON-issue for my kids. (They honestly could care LESS!!!)

But, fortunately, both have already made up their mind to CC when they are of legal age.

Even with no children in the house, I do not keep my long guns chambered. Handguns are all chambered with full mags, but if I need to take the time to get to a long gun then I have time to chamber a round.

I raised 3 kids with loaded guns in the house. They were taught from a very early age that guns are not toys, and that they will kill if handled improperly. No kids around now, so guns are all over the place. I do pick them up when the grandkids are in the house, but we still shoot around them, and with them. My daughter could out shoot me at 13, and my oldest boy's first complete sentence was "Gun pow, daddy, gun pow", he was two, and had just shot the 12ga for the humpteenth time. IMHO, an unloaded gun is nothing more than a brick, or a base ball bat.